How to make your online event a success?

Do you think that it is enough to use an online event platform to make your live a success and keep your audience engaged ? While planning an online event is easy, making a successful live event is more difficult! Rest assured, it is entirely possible with a clear and structured strategy. Quickly discover below all our tips for successful remote events and make an impression.

What is a successful online event?  

According to Larousse, an event is “a fact of particular importance” during a physical event. The different types of professional events:

• A living room,
• A product launch,
• A general meeting,
• A seminar,
• Etc.

In essence, an event is out of the ordinary. It is superb, even sublime. In the same way, we must find the “superb” in online events. At Voilà, our new customers tell us” The event was a total success, there was no problem! ”. The absence of problems is a necessary condition for an event to be a success, but it is far from enough! We define the success of an event by two simple metrics or KPIs:

• The rate of participation in the event,
• The engagement rate during and after the event

But there is no standard rate that proves the success of an event. Because it depends on the sector, the type of event, the audience, the expectations of the organizers, etc.

Why organize an online event?

Organizing an online event has a lot of advantages:

• Increase your audience: the number of participants in your remote event is unlimited,
• Improving the experience of your participants: no travel is required for a half-day event for example,
• Reducing the carbon footprint of your event (no travel by car, train, or plane) and strengthen your CSR commitments,
• Better control your budget: but variable for events organized in the metaverse with team participants. However, the financial aspect is now the main motivation for organizers of online events,
• Set up events in reduced deadlines,
• Etc.

A 100% virtual or hybrid format

Two possibilities are available to you! 1° One 100% remote event often via an event platform.2° A hybrid format with in-person participants and remote participants. This makes it possible to combine the advantages of face-to-face and virtual and to increase your audience. Viva Tech, the biggest tech show in Europe, which took place from 15 to 18 June in person at the Parc des Expositions, is an example ofhybrid event. In fact, we are very proud to have been selected as partner by Viva tech! 🎉

What are the challenges of 100% remote versus hybrid?

As mentioned above, the two main challenges areobtaining a high participation rate and a strong commitment during and after the event. During a 100% remote event, the experience of the remote participant is generally valued. Even though most online events today look like simple streaming. In the context of a hybrid event, organizers often forget about the remote participant experience and focus on that of the in-person participant. For us at Voilà, this is a big mistake! The experience of both types of participants should be considered. It must be different, including specific activities depending on the type of participant. Even if the purpose of the experience remains the same!

The different steps to a successful virtual event

Organizing a remote event (trade show, incentive, product launch, product launch, team-building, meeting, trade show, etc.) cannot be improvised. A remote event requires preparation and organization in advance of the event in order to avoid the slightest hesitation or downtime to offer the best live experience. Your live will be successful if your audience is engaged! Some key aspects for the success of your online event:1°) Set specific goals: Why are you organizing this event? What is the main message to communicate? 2°) Set a date, time, and duration of the event.3°) Communicate about the event: send invitation emails, reminders internally and externally In short, use all available channels to increase your audience.4°) Create the common thread of your event so that participants remember the event.5°) Build your workflow in detail: Determine, select and prioritize the order of presentation of the content and highlight the different speakers, the different sessions, and the complementary content.6°) Plan and check your equipment: sound, video quality, decor, etc.) Do all the necessary tests before D-Day. We're not doing an event with a simple PC and webcam 😉 7°) Determine roles and responsibilities of each stakeholder, 8°) Ensure post-event follow-up by collecting the opinions of participants.

How can you ensure a good participation rate?

In advance of the event, plan:

• Sending invitations by email and making sure they don't fall into spam,
• Sending reminders,
• Sending SMS reminders,
• The use of social networks and your other channels to communicate about the event

But above all the establishment ofa real communication strategy :

• Have content adapted to your target,
• Attract and hold attendees' attention prior to the event,
• Liaise with the media and your partners,
• Continue the conversation after the event,
• Don't stop communicating when the event is over,
• Talk about your past and successful events.

How do you win the battle for attention with a remote event?

Getting the audience's attention for the duration of the online event and not just the first few minutes is probably The biggest challenge. How to do it?

For us, 5 key dimensions, including the last two, are often forgotten:

1. Communicate the objectives and the agenda to your audience in advance. This impacts the registration rate, but also the participants who make the choice to really participate.
2. Take care of the staging and its quality: video, sound, light and more generally the format.
3. Have attractive content
4. Interacting with the audience is a more effective way to capture and maintain the volatile attention of the audience, considering that the average attention span online is quite low.
5. For hybrid events: Consider the remote participant experience the same as the in-person experience.

Here is the digital solution to engage your audience even more

At Voilà, we love events! Hybrid or remote, we give you the means to make your event a unique and memorable experience! For us, it is the experience of the participant that makes the event! Thus, we provide you with various Live solutions and Options in order to increase the engagement of your audience.

Our features to engage your audience remotely

Interactivity elements: chat, Q&A, quizzes, customizable emojis, customizable emojis, word clouds, games, break-up rooms.Different formats: mobile to mobile, intervening remotely and all the image and video effects offered by our video control room.

Measure the success of your online events

Measure the performance of your event at the end of it to improve future ones based on a satisfaction survey, audience curves, statistics and interaction curves...

Conclusion

An online event therefore represents an exceptional opportunity to engage your audience remotely! But to succeed, you have to put in place a solid strategy and use the appropriate mechanisms in order to engage your audience as much as possible. Do you want to make your online events a success? Contact us